These past few mornings, every time Shen Hao went out, he felt there were way more people on the streets, especially towards the direction of the city’s teleportation array—it was several times busier than usual, making the already narrow road feel crowded.

Most of these newcomers didn’t look like ordinary folk; either their clothes were luxurious, or they had an imposing aura that was clearly not normal.

"It’s getting lively." Shen Hao sat in the carriage, watching the crowd outside dodging each other, and commented with a bright smile.

"Yeah, it’s always like this—whenever folks come from Pingjiang City to our Li City, the place gets packed to the brim." The guard driving the carriage laughed and chimed in with Shen Hao.

"Last time, did you stay behind or go to Pingjiang City?"

"I went to Pingjiang City last time. It was busy as hell. The only ones who stayed back were Hundred Households’ Personal Soldiers, everyone else made the trip."

"Heh, do people usually stir up trouble?"

"Sure! But not a whole lot. If I remember right, we nabbed nine folks total across those ten days, then let them all go later."

"Let them go?"

"Yeah, fined a bit of silver coins and let them go. No one actually hurt any locals, Hundred Households said just give them a warning and that was that."

Idle chatter, a few lines here and there, and soon enough they arrived at the garrison.

This day was October 27th, autumn fading away, entering winter.

As soon as they stepped into the garrison, Tang Qingyuan sent someone to inform them about a meeting in the grand hall. By the time Shen Hao walked in, nearly everyone was already present.

Unlike before, everyone in attendance "amicably" nodded or greeted him, none of that deliberate distance from not so long ago—actually, there was a vibe of friendliness.

Even Wang Cheng, Trial Hundred Households, who’d previously cursed Shen Hao, was like this, entirely forgetting the old grudge, and among the group his smile was the warmest.

Plus, Shen Hao’s usual side seat was now taken; everyone had reserved for him the prime spot, first seat to the left of the head.

At this point, nobody could deny that after Tang Qingyuan, Shen Hao’s influence was second to none in Li City Hundred Households Station.

Also, whenever there was a meeting now, Chen Tianwen very naturally sat right next to Shen Hao.

An invisible line seemed to have been drawn right in the small Li City Guard Station.

Shen Hao hadn’t been seated for long when Tang Qingyuan came in from outside, waved his hand to signal everyone not to stand on ceremony, and said, "I’ll keep it short—let’s get things settled so everyone can get to work.

The twelfth of next month is the grand event of Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute opening its gates. According to the report from yesterday—gathered from all city teleportation arrays in the district—the number of people coming this time is twenty percent higher than the same period last time. So, on the twelfth, Pingjiang City and Li City will see an influx bigger than even five years ago.

The garrison has already reached out to me. From today onward, they’ll gradually ramp up defense from Pingjiang City to Li City, covering all highways and city gates under their management. Our Xuanqing Guard, same as before, handles inspections in core areas of Pingjiang and controls over special crowds.

Wang Cheng, Trial Hundred Households, and I will stay at Li City, the rest will head to Pingjiang City except for those on essential tasks that can’t be interrupted. Right, Liu Chuan will be in charge of field command at Pingjiang—you’re an old hand, know the people and affairs, so I’m asking you to take this on.

Alright, that’s the deal. Any issues, report them as they come. Liu Chuan, you talk to them next and sort out the arrangements."

Tang Qingyuan wrapped it up in just a few lines and got up to leave.

Left already?

Shen Hao could clearly sense that Tang Qingyuan had zero interest in the Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute opening event. So rushed, that was not Tang Qingyuan’s usual way of doing things.

He felt puzzled for a moment, but quickly figured it out.

Tang Qingyuan had old grudges with Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute. Chen Tianwen had told him before—forty years ago, Tang Qingyuan was a prodigy with exceptional talent in cultivation, recruited as a disciple by Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute. But not long after, something happened, he was expelled and became an abandoned disciple. His cultivation aptitude plummeted, and he could only drift through mundane places like Xuanqing Guard.

This... No one really knows what Tang Qingyuan went through back then, but his attitude makes it clear he’s downright perfunctory about Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute.

Looking around, everyone else looked perfectly calm—it seemed everyone was aware of the history between Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute and Tang Qingyuan, so Shen Hao just focused and listened carefully as Liu Chuan explained the arrangements.

"Of our six squads, apart from those out on missions who can’t return, the rest are included in this operation. Later, all General Flags, send me confirmation for your headcount. Squads A, B, C will patrol the official road from Gui Mountain to Pingjiang City, same as last time. Squads D, E, F will patrol inside the city, especially around the outer sect entrances by Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute."

"As for Shen Zongqi’s side, I think you should be our rapid response force—if anything pops up somewhere, you go support. How does that sound, Shen Zongqi?"

"You’re the commander, it’s your call. Black Banner Battalion follows orders." Shen Hao gave face since he’d been given face—no reason to jump in and boss everyone around, acting clueless.

"Hehe, then it’s settled. Today we prep, tomorrow early 7 a.m. we move out."

"Yes!"

Just back from the main hall to the public office, Chen Tianwen came looking for him, nearly right behind.

"Something up?"

"Wine! Wuliangye! You still have some at home, right? I went to the Zhang Family shop yesterday—only twenty jars sold per day, clearly your shady trick. Who else brews only twenty jars a day? You nuts? Damned scoundrel, this is evil! Spare some from your stash for me."

Shen Hao was completely stunned by the barrage; it took him quite a while to process what was happening. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Tsk, you didn’t used to like the stuff. How’d you get so greedy now?"

"Pfft, after drinking your liquor, everything else tastes like swill—how am I supposed to force it down? It’s driving me nuts, didn’t even use to like alcohol but you gave me a craving. Hurry up and give me a note so I can send someone to your place to haul it."

"Haul? How much do you want?"

"At least ten or twenty jars, surely?"

"Keep dreaming, everything’s possible in your dreams—not happening."

"So, five or six jars at least?"

"One jar tops, not more."

"Stingy! Fine, whatever, one jar then. Give me the note quickly."

Shen Hao was speechless, so he wrote a note for the family to spare one jar for Fatty Chen Tianwen. But he was secretly smug—after all, he’d managed to bring Wuliangye, a top-tier banquet wine, into the mix here—who could argue?

This time sales officially kicked off for about ten days. The first few days, the Zhang Family shop was dead—nobody cared, the Zhang Family were worried sick. Then Chen Tianwen helped advertise, people came flocking in, soon rumors spread everywhere, and all of Li City’s upper-tier crowd heard the Zhang Family’s old shop had a new brew. The flavor was almost comparable to Immortal Brew, plus a jar only cost one hundred taels—basically a giveaway, so hurry and snatch it up!

The stuff was good, and with Shen Hao’s hunger marketing, his so-called "Wuliangye" instantly became elite. People queued outside at dawn to grab some each day.

Troublemakers?

Who would dare cause trouble in front of Master Shen, Black Banner Camp Commander, at his shop? If someone wanted to die, that still wasn’t the way to do it.